The
revised 3rd quarter GDP was lower than the 3rd quarter rate back in 1992 when
Bill Clinton ran on the poor economy (2.2 versus 2.7 percent), but instead of
pointing that out the broadcast networks all led Thursday night with how the
White House castigated George W. Bush for daring to suggest an economic
downturn may be ahead. All the December 21 newscasts ran a soundbite from
Clinton economic adviser Gene Sperling warning the talk may be a
self-fulfilling prophesy.

CBS's Dan Rather scolded: "Is talk of a recession
responsible?" Some in the White House, Rather relayed, "accuse the
Bush team of economic fear-mongering." Rather soon even blamed Bush for
depressing Christmas sales: "The talk from the Bush team of a possible
recession could not come at a worse time for the retail industry. The stores
are afraid all this talk is encouraging consumers to close their
wallets." Reporter John Roberts aired a clip of Bill Clinton claiming,
"we are now in the longest economic expansion in our history."
Roberts called that "a pointed lesson in economic history," but
failed to point out how the expansion started well before the 1992 election.

Only FNC's Steve Centanni, in a piece run on both
Special Report with Brit Hume and the Fox Report, reminded viewers of how
"if, as some say, Bush is playing politics with the economy, he
wouldn't be the first. Eight years ago candidate Bill Clinton campaigned on
the economy, ignoring signs that an economic recovery was already underway.
And as President-elect, Bill Clinton convened a Little Rock summit to talk
about mending a broken economy that he claimed to be inheriting from George
Bush."

-- ABC's World News Tonight. John Martin began the
lead story: "This particular argument is over whether George W. Bush is
deliberately low-balling the prospects for economic growth for political
gain."

After a soundbite from Bush defending himself against
the charge of playing politics about the slowdown, Martin explained: "All
this has blown up in the wake of Bush's comment yesterday that he saw signs
of slowdown just ahead and his suggestion that his tax cut plan could soften
the impact."

Martin went on to relay the complaint from Sperling that
Bush's talk itself could hurt the economy, a charge Dick Cheney denied, and
while Wayne Ayers of Fleet Boston agreed negative forecasts from leaders could
impact the economy, he didn't think Bush had yet stepped over the line.

-- CBS Evening News. Dan Rather's up front tease:
"Where will the economy go? There are some new signs the economy is
slowing some, but is talk of a recession responsible? We'll talk to the
Treasury Secretary as some others in the White House accuse the Bush team of
economic fear-mongering." Rather then
opened the program, as transcribed by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: "Good
evening. The outgoing Clinton administration put out new numbers today showing
the U.S. economy is cooling somewhat after growing at a red hot pace earlier
this year. The Commerce Department says economic growth slowed in the third
quarter to an annual rate of 2.2 percent. That's less than half the rate of
the second quarter. Economists are hoping the economy will come in for
what's called a 'soft landing.' That's defined as slower growth
without a recession. But the incoming Bush administration continues to talk
about the possibility of a recession, and the Clinton White House accused the
President-elect today of talking the economy down for partisan political
reasons -- among other things, to make his big tax cut plan more attractive,
say the Democrats."

John Roberts began the lead story: "Dan, at a time
when the President-elect should be focused on transition, he finds himself
embroiled in a fight with the outgoing administration, a fight he feels he had
to pick if he hopes to survive past his first four years...The President-elect
today tried to beat back criticisms that by saying the economy could be headed
for a recession, he just might make it happen."
George W. Bush: "I,
in all due respect, have said that there are some warning signs on the
horizon. I think that people are gonna find out that when I'm sworn in as
the President, I'll be a realist, and if there are warning signs on the
horizon, we need to pay attention to them."
Roberts: "Earlier
in the day, it was Dick Cheney on Capitol Hill for a conciliatory meeting with
Senator Joe Lieberman, who rushed to counter charges that he and Bush were
playing politics."
Dick Cheney: "We
don't want to talk down the economy, clearly, and I think both
President-elect Bush and myself have tried to be cautious in that
regard."
Roberts: "The dust
up has pit the incoming administration, anxious to avoid any blame for a
downturn, against President Clinton, who today issued a pointed lesson in
economic history."
Bill Clinton: "We
are now in the longest economic expansion in our history. A critical part of
our strategy to get there was to put our fiscal house in order, to replace
record deficits with record surpluses."

Without pointing out how the expansion started in early
1992, Roberts continued: "White House officials acknowledge that the
economy has slowed to its lowest level of growth since 1996 but say no one
thought the blistering pace of the last few years could be sustained."
White House Press
Secretary Jake Siewert: "We're not trying to muzzle anyone. I think
we're just urging a measured tone, one that is line with the facts -- 2.2
percent is higher than the average rate of growth during the last Bush
administration."
Roberts: "On his
last day as Governor of Texas, Bush trumpeted his record of spurring growth
through bipartisan cooperation and tax cuts, a model he said he will take to
Washington and the nation."

After a clip from Bush, Roberts concluded:
"Democrats have accused Bush of acting more like a candidate than an
incoming President, but Bush is all too well aware that if the economy goes
south on his watch, Democrats will beat him over the head with it for the next
four years just like they did his father."

Rather then introduced the next story by suggesting Bush
is in danger of exacerbating poor Christmas sales: "The talk from the
Bush team of a possible recession could not come at a worse time for the
retail industry. The stores are afraid all this talk is encouraging consumers
to close their wallets at the peak of an already disappointing holiday
shopping season."

-- NBC Nightly News. Tom Brokaw was far more direct than
Dan Rather in acknowledging how the economy is slowing. He opened the show:
"Good evening. Everyone agrees the American economy is slowing, it's
moving directly from the fast lane to the right hand lane. Now the question is
will it keep on going right into the ditch? President-elect Bush says this is
a dangerous time and his massive tax cut, he believes, is the best course
correction. But the White House and Democrats countered that scenario is too
radical. They think it will bring only more trouble."

Words
seldom, if ever, heard before on network television: Reagan's tax cut
"worked" since it "helped pull the economy out of
recession."

In a December 21 NBC Nightly News piece on Bush's
proposed tax cut, Lisa Myers allowed Reagan OMB chief James Miller to argue
for the benefits of an immediate tax cut and then she offered evidence:
"Experts say tax cuts have worked in the past. In 1981 Reagan's big
across-the-board tax cut helped pull the economy out of recession and, many
say, helped trigger the bull market for stocks."

Myers went on to describe the Bush proposal as similar
to the Reagan cut. After running a soundbite from Robert Hormats of Goldman
Sachs saying a tax cut could boost the economy and help avoid a recession, if
it goes into effect soon, Myers turned to former Clinton economic adviser
Laura Tyson for the anti-tax cut view.

Myers concluded, however, by returning to the usual
media form of tagging the Bush tax cut as "big,"
"enormous" or "massive." She offered a different
adjective: "Key Republicans and Democrats say Bush definitely can get
some kind of tax cut, maybe even an across the board reduction in tax rates.
But nothing close to the trillion dollar mega-tax cut that he's
pushing."

FNC's
Fox NewsWatch this weekend will discuss the MRC's "Best
Notable Quotables of 2000: The Thirteenth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst
Reporting." Specifically, the show's Web site features this plug:
"The Media Research Center, a right-of-center media watchdog group, has
picked its worst moments in journalism for the year 2000. So have two
associates of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a left-of-center media
watchdog group. We'll take a look at some of the 'winners.'"

The half-hour Fox NewsWatch, hosted by Eric Burns and
featuring NQ awards issue judge Cal Thomas on its panel, normally airs three
times over the weekend on the Fox News Channel. By time zone:

Carole
Simpson, ABC News reporter and anchor of World News Tonight on Sundays, is
consumed by hatred and anger toward Clarence Thomas, a disgust most
recently triggered by his supposed vote "against black voting
rights" in last week's presidential election case. She concluded
her rant: "I have heard many women and minorities say, 'God help
us' if Bush appoints any more judges like him."

MRC analyst Jessica Anderson on Thursday alerted me
to Simpson's weekly online column posted this past Sunday. She cleverly
attributed all of her points to others, but since she cited no contrasting
views they obviously matched her own. She relayed how during the campaign
Democrats warned Bush court appointees "would no doubt rule in favor
of rights for whites, males, and the wealthy, and against the rights of
blacks and browns, females, and the poor." She quoted a judge who
claimed Thomas "has done more to turn back the clock of racial
progress than has perhaps any other African-American public
official." Simpson passed along how the New York Times called him the
"cruelest" justice "because he has consistently voted
against human rights and civil rights."

"Simpson Reflects on the Role of Justice
Thomas" read the headline above her December 17 "On My
Mind" online commentary. An excerpt:

....Democratic campaign activists warned that if George W. Bush became
President he would most likely appoint justices who would make the high
court more conservative than it is now.

They predicted that a second Bush court would overturn Roe v. Wade and
affirmative action laws. Bush appointees, they argued, would no doubt rule
in favor of rights for whites, males, and the wealthy, and against the
rights of blacks and browns, females, and the poor.

If anybody needed a wake-up call on how important the
"Supremes" are it came loudly and clearly last Tuesday night.

That's when we heard the historic news that the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled 5 to 4 against Gore in the Florida vote recount case, in effect
guaranteeing that Bush the 43rd Presidency of the United States. The
future of the Court is now in his hands.

Will he follow in his father's footsteps? President Bush picked
former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Clarence Thomas to fill the enormous
shoes left on the high court by the death of Justice Thurgood Marshall,
one of history's greatest civil rights lawyers and jurists.

At the time, President Bush said Thomas, with his remarkably limited
experience, was the most qualified judge in the nation for the job. Others
thought Thomas was the beneficiary of the biggest example of unmerited
affirmative action ever undertaken.

In 1998, former U.S. Appeals Court Judge Leon Higginbotham, Jr., an
outstanding black jurist -- now deceased -- said Justice Thomas, after
eight years on the Supreme Court, "has done more to turn back the
clock of racial progress than has perhaps any other African-American
public official in the history of this country."

Florida African-Americans raised one of the major issues in the
controversial vote there. They charged they had been disenfranchised, that
casting votes was made particularly difficult for them, and that their
ballots were undercounted. Some charged, their votes were
"stolen." In the Tuesday ruling, which brought the long national
nightmare to an end, I was anxious to see
which justices voted how. Sure enough, the split was along partisan lines.
Republican appointees went with Bush, Democratic ones with Gore.

Suspend excerpt. Two comments. First: As the Washington Times reported
Wednesday and was briefly summarized in the December 21 CyberAlert,
Florida's Democratic Attorney General has found no evidence of anything
aimed at blocking blacks from voting. Second: In the 5-4 split two of the
four, Stevens (appointed by Republican Ford) and Souter (named by Bush the
elder), voted for the Gore position. In the 7-2 split, the two were
Clinton-appointed Ginsburg and Ford-nominated Stevens.

Resume excerpt:

This was an issue about voting rights. Yet, Justice Thomas voted with
the conservative majority. His vote could have changed history. But it was
not to be. He is firmly entrenched on the Court's right. In fact, during
this term, of 45 cases decided, Thomas voted 90 percent of the time with
his arch-conservative colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia.

How could Justice Thomas vote against black voting rights? This is a
man who has experienced much of the worst of growing up black and poor in
America....

He was an excellent student at Holy Cross and received his law degree
from Yale. He attracted the attention of the Republican right wing when he
criticized his only sister for being on welfare.
(She wasn't lucky enough to be sent to grandmother's house like her
brother.) Under the Reagan Administration, Thomas served as head of the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was appointed to the U.S. Court
of Appeals, and after only a year on that
bench Bush and the U.S. Senate gave him a life-time appointment to the
highest court in the land. This, in spite of the Anita Hill sexual
harassment scandal.

Because he has consistently voted against human rights and civil
rights, a New York Times editorial called him the "cruelest"
justice on the court. In five major cases involving civil rights and
liberties, he voted against minorities every time, including rulings
against job discrimination and voting rights. He's only 52 years old and
could conceivably spend another 30 years on the Supreme
Court.

If, during his tenure, President-elect Bush ends up making a couple of
more appointments like Justice Thomas to the Supreme Court, I have heard
many women and minorities say, "God help us."

END Excerpt

God help us that someone, so filled with such hatred
and disrespect for a man who dared stray from the liberal race spoils
system, is a reporter for a major news network.

Speaking
of media slams against Clarence Thomas, the Heritage
Foundation is trying to correct media misinformation about his wife,
Virginia, which supposedly demonstrated a conflict of interest for him.

Relaying without attribution a hit on her in the New
York Times, in a December 12 NBC Nightly News story on conflicts of
interests by Supreme Court justices, Andrea Mitchell asserted:
"Clarence Thomas's wife, Virginia, a former top Republican aide to
Majority Leader Dick Armey, now doing a talent search at a Washington
think tank for a possible Bush administration."

Washington Times "Inside Politics"
columnist Greg Pierce on Thursday passed along a Heritage memo attempting
to correct the media. An excerpt from Pierce's December 21 item:

The Heritage Foundation this week felt it necessary to send out
a letter to journalists to correct "baseless stories insinuating some
sort of impropriety about Virginia Thomas working at the Heritage
Foundation while her husband, Justice Clarence Thomas,
ruled on the contested election in Florida."

James R. Weidman, director of media relations at Heritage, wrote: "Alas, the erroneous reports of this
non-story have taken on a life of their own. In the absence of basic
fact-checking, they continue to be rehashed -- and even more fancifully
embroidered -- among much of the media." He went on to describe
"the facts of the matter."

"As Heritage's senior fellow in government studies, Ms. Thomas oversees our government-oversight project.
Among her many activities in this area this year, she coordinated an
eight-week training seminar for congressional staffers on how they can
better prepare their members of
Congress to conduct productive oversight hearings."

On Dec. 4, while the election was still in doubt, Mrs. Thomas learned
that Mary Rose, a staffer in another department at Heritage, "had
been designated as our resume 'point person,' the one who would ride herd
over the resumes being sent to us by people interested in working for the
next administration," Mr. Weidman said. "Ms. Thomas then
e-mailed House and Senate staffers with whom she had been working to
acquaint them with this fact.

The e-mail went to both Republican and Democratic staffers." Mr. Weidman added: "Ms. Thomas has not
been receiving resumes. She has not been recruiting potential appointees
for a Bush administration. She is not affiliated with the Bush transition
team in any way, shape or form."

A
millionaire movie star is "very worried about the Bush
presidency" because she's "worried about the kind of cuts he
might make in domestic programs that mean something to...people in my
family who depend on certain things from the government." The star in
question, Sarah Jessica Parker, let loose with her advocacy of government
dependence during a chat with a Washington Post reporter to promote her
new movie, State and Main.

Here's an excerpt from the item in the December 21
Washington Post's "The Reliable Source" column by Lloyd Grove
and Beth Berselli:

If it were up to Sarah Jessica Parker -- star of HBO's "Sex in the
City," wife of Matthew Broderick -- President-elect George W. Bush
should just forget the honeymoon.

"I'm very, very concerned about the Bush presidency," the
35-year-old actress told us during a conversation that was mostly about
her role in "State and Main," the new David Mamet movie opening
tomorrow. "I'm worried about the kind of cuts he might make in
domestic programs that mean something to a lot of people, including people
in my family who depend on certain things from the government. When
someone has to qualify themselves as a 'compassionate' conservative, I
think it's kind of interesting that the compassion can't just be
assumed."

Parker said she has been politically active since her child-actress
days in Cincinnati, meeting with George McGovern when she was a precocious
7-year-old and he was the Democratic standard-bearer of 1972. But politics
aside, she plays a Hollywood diva in the Mamet movie -- a tart comedy
about a movie production company that descends on a quaint New England
village, only to corrupt the flinty
residents....

When did Bush ever propose any "cuts" and
what social spending program has ever been cut? Instead of whining about
how some relatives might get a smaller handout you'd think someone as
wealthy as Parker could toss them a few bucks, but I guess she'd rather
have people who make a lot less than her have part of their income
transferred via taxes to her relatives.

What
does Dan Rather do between newscasts other than develop liberal agenda
story angles? He imagines himself as a military commander of yesteryear
and goes to see the movie Gladiator. Five times so far, the Philadelphia
Inquirer's Gail Shister reported on Thursday.

In her December 21 column the TV reporter disclosed:
"CBS's Dan
Rather, 69, who's fought more than his share of battles in the TV
coliseum, is nuts for Gladiator. At last count, he'd seen the Russell
Crowe epic five times.
"'Would I
like to think of myself as commander of the Northern Armies? You bet,'
Gunga Dan says. 'Would I like to think of myself as somebody who lives
with a code of strength and honor? You bet.'"
"Alas, 'life
is not like that. Maximus just keeps coming in a way that none of us can
do.'
"As for Rather's armor, 'I think it's rusty, and
the hinges are beginning to come apart.' (Courage, Dan.)"

From
the December 20 Late
Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Questions George W. Bush
Asked President Clinton." Copyright 2000 by Worldwide Pants, Inc.

10. "What's the name of that big building shaped like a
pentagon?"
9. "Where do you want me to forward your subpoenas?"
8. "Can I buy your '92 inaugural speech from you?"
7. "Who does a guy have to execute to get a drink around here?"
6. "Lemme get this straight -- you won an election without a brother
as Governor?"
5. "How can I tell Cheney to start wearing a shirt to meetings
without hurting his feelings?"
4. "Dude, where's my car?"
3. "In that movie 'Independence Day' did the Martians really blow up
the White House?"
2. "Do you think the young lady could stop that until we're finished
talking?"
1. "Which one of these is the Bat-Phone?"

All the Bush-bashing is
worth it just to hear #2. And even #9. -- Brent Baker

>>>
Support the MRC, an educational foundation dependent upon contributions
which make CyberAlert possible, by providing a tax-deductible
donation. Use the secure donations page set up for CyberAlert
readers and subscribers:http://www.mrc.org/donate

>>>To subscribe to CyberAlert, send a
blank e-mail to:
mrccyberalert-subscribe
@topica.com. Or, you can go to:
http://www.mrc.org/newsletters.
Either way you will receive a confirmation message titled: "RESPONSE
REQUIRED: Confirm your subscription to mrccyberalert@topica.com."
After you reply, either by going to the listed Web page link or by simply
hitting reply, you will receive a message confirming that you have been
added to the MRC CyberAlert list. If you confirm by using the Web page
link you will be given a chance to "register" with Topica. You
DO
NOT have to do this; at that point you are already subscribed to
CyberAlert.
To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to:
cybercomment@mrc.org.
Send problems and comments to: cybercomment@mrc.org.

>>>You
can learn what has been posted each day on the MRC's Web site by
subscribing to the "MRC Web Site News" distributed every weekday
afternoon. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to: cybercomment@mrc.org.
Or, go to: http://www.mrc.org/newsletters.

Federal employees and military personnel can donate to the Media Research Center through the Combined Federal Campaign or CFC. To donate to the MRC, use CFC #12489. Visit the CFC website for more information about giving opportunities in your workplace.